Letter 7036: No one doubts that people are refreshed by pleasant variety, because great weariness of the mind comes from the...

From: Cassiodorus (formula template) To: [Leave of absence recipient] Date: ~522 AD Context: Template granting a palatine official leave to visit his rural estates, with a philosophical reflection on the need for variety. No one doubts that people are refreshed by pleasant variety, because great weariness of the mind comes from the unbroken continuation of anything. The sweetness of honey, if consumed constantly, becomes repulsive. Even fair weather, however eagerly desired, loses its charm when it never changes. Not without reason -- since man is changeable, he desires to have the qualities of his own nature. Therefore, to you who are eager to be refreshed by the pleasures of the countryside, we grant leave to remain in the designated province for the designated number of months. A man who is not allowed to change his surroundings is practically a prisoner. But when you have enjoyed your well-earned break with the Lord's help, hasten to return to the city. For if it is tedious to live continuously in the bustle of the city, how much more so to have spent a long time in the countryside! We gladly grant leave to depart, not so that Rome should be abandoned, but so that the absent man may appreciate her all the more.

XXXVI. FORMULA COMMEATALIS. [1] Nemo dubitat homines suavi varietate recreari, quia in continuatione rerum magnum mentibus constat esse fastidium. dulcedo mellis, si assidue sumatur, horrescit: serena ipsa, quamvis magnopere desiderentur, iugiter adepta sordescunt: non immerito, quia dum sit homo commutabilis, naturae suae desiderat habere qualitates. [2] Et ideo festinanti tibi provinciali oblectatione refoveri copiam tot mensuum in supra dicta provincia concedimus immorandi, quia paene reclusus advertitur, cui mutare solum liberum non videtur: ita tamen, ut cum promeritas indutias domino iuvante transegeris, ad urbanas sedes redire festines. nam si taedium est continuatim vivere in urbis celebritate, quanto magis in agris diutina tempora peregisse! libenter ergo damus indutias discedendi, non ut Roma debeat deseri, sed ut amplius commendetur absenti.